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Show Report

Show Report: Versace A/W 15 Womenswear

by Bertie Brandes on 1 March 2015

Bertie Brandes reports on the Versace A/W 15 womenswear show.

Bertie Brandes reports on the Versace A/W 15 womenswear show.

For a label that usually seems pretty happy to exist within its own time period, this season Donatella Versace embraced full future. While shapes remained pretty classic Versace, updates on embellishment and a clean, sharp colour palette of red and acid yellow felt bright and modern. So many aspects of this collection were clearly aimed at the next generation of buyers; embroidered 'Versace' sweatshirts would be a nighties throwback if they weren’t so ubiquitous on Instagram today and I can already imagine the queues for the Versace print tights. Super short dresses were cut low at the back revealing the elastic back of printed bras and Pretty Woman boots were re-imagined in red and green patent leather.

Clearly, this season was all about making the old feel new – even the hashtag #VERS@CE embellished in multi-coloured letters across black shirts and dresses, and created especially by Donatella for the collection, smacked ever so slightly of some dodgy blog from the early days of the web. That’s not to say it didn’t work. Some of the simpler pieces were equally strong albeit in a less considered way; a flared catsuit with a deep cutout V reaching down one side of the chest was brilliantly glam without feeling costume-y and super tight high-waisted belted trousers were just serious enough. Closing to a soundtrack of Prince, the show vibe was very party and for once the models really did strut (although rather precariously in Cuckoo Club gold caged heels). This was a collection seeped in nostalgia in a tongue-in-cheek, digitally-savvy way and while you certainly still have to be rich to be their girl, I get the feeling Versace have their eye on the iPhone generation.

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